Meyer shipyard in Papenburg: Many employees on short-time work
Photo:Sina Schuldt / picture alliance / dpa
The new SPD top candidate Olaf Scholz had pushed ahead on the weekend and had announced that he wanted to extend the duration of the short-time work allowance to 24 months. Chancellor Angela Merkel has now also joined the project. She has sympathy for these plans of her finance minister.
Merkel (CDU) is "fundamentally positive" about extending the short-time work allowance, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert. The measure brought Germany through the coronavirus crisis comparatively well. She got millions of jobs in the company.
The corona slump in the economy has led to an unprecedented level of short-time work in Germany. Basically, there is currently a maximum period of twelve months for short-time work benefits. In certain cases, the period can now be extended to up to 21 months. Due to the short-time work allowance paid by the Federal Employment Agency (BA), a large part of the salaries can continue to flow under certain conditions if companies have to temporarily reduce working hours.
Coalition Committee should advise
Scholz had justified an extension with the words: "The corona crisis will not suddenly disappear in the next few weeks. Companies and employees need a clear signal from the government: We will go with you all the way through the crisis so that no one is left without it Emergency is discharged. " A spokesman for the finance ministry estimates the cost of this at several billion euros. He did not give an exact number.
The mechanical engineering companies in Germany praised the plans. "As in 2009, short-time working secures numerous jobs and has proven itself as a reliable, job-securing instrument in this crisis," said the chief economist of the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering. In July around 378,000 employees in the industry were on short-time work. The industry has a total of 1.03 million employees; 32,000 jobs were lost in the industry in the first half of 2020.
Seibert added that the government is currently discussing a possible one-year extension. A specific design will be a topic at the next meeting of the coalition leaders. The so-called coalition committee is scheduled for August 25th.
Icon: The mirrorapr / dpa / Reuters
